Tower Semi to prepay $20 mln long-term bank debt

RobertDaniel

TEL AVIV (MarketWatch) -- Tower Semiconductor Ltd.
TSEM, +0.00%
the Migdal ha'Emek, chip foundry, reached agreement with its Israeli bank lenders to prepay $20 million of long-term debt due in September 2011. The move, Tower said in a Wednesday statement, will be "funded by its improved operating margins, which recently have been much better than expected." As part of the agreement, the banks have consented to Tower issuing as much as $100 million of new long-term debentures. The company said that if it does issue the new debt, it expects its duration to be five to seven years. Tower is targeting $500 million of revenue in 2010, compared with $298.8 million in 2009. The company said that it is working with its lenders and bondholders to further strengthen its balance sheet.

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